Michael Gero gets four-year sentence on weapons charges; will be out by the weekend

The N.D.G. man whose murder trial was halted yesterday as closing arguments were supposed to begin has only one day left behind bars after being sentenced to four years on weapons charges.

Following a request by Crown Prosecutor Jacques Dagenais, the judge yesterday issued a stay of proceedings on the second degree murder charge for Michael Gero who was accused of shooting and killing his 19-year-old girlfriend, Sherri Thomas at their apartment in N.D.G. in November 2013.

Dagenais said he no longer believed Gero, then 23, killed Thomas so he could no longer continue the trial, citing a lack of concrete evidence.

Gero pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon and possessing a prohibited weapon when he wasn't allowed to do so. He received three years for the first charge and one year for the second, as recommended by the lawyers.

But after time served in detention - the equivalent of nearly five years - that means Gero will be behind bars for one more day as part of protocol.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo did not mince words in sentencing Gero, saying that while the sentence fit the jurisprudence, "it was certainly not severe."

Di Salvo said Gero "showed a flagrant contempt for the justice system" by keeping a prohibited weapon when he wasn't allowed. Di Salvo also noted that Gero kept the firearm loaded at his home when his daughter, then 4, was visiting every weekend.

Di Salvo said they "would never know what really happened" that day.

The only thing Gero said in court was, "Yes, your honour" when Di Salvo asked him a couple of times if he understood his sentence, that included three years probation and a lifetime ban on possessing any firearms or other weapons.

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